Kafr Bir'im

The village stood on a rocky hill only a little higher than the surrounding area and faced north and west. A secondary road linked it to a number of villages in the west and east and led to the coastal highway and the highway to Safad. The village's name may have been a corruption of the name of the Canaanite town of Periya'm. In the late nineteenth century, Kafr Bir'im was described as a stone-built village, surrounded by gardens, olive trees, and vineyards. The population was estimated to be between 300 and 500. Most of the villagers were Christian; in modem times the population consisted of 700 Christians and 10 Muslims. Their houses, made of stone and mud, were built close together. Some of the land was forested. Agriculture, irrigated from the abundant springs, was the primary occupation of the villagers, who were especially active in olive and fruit cultivation. In 1944/45 a total of 3,718 dunums was allocated to cereals and 1101 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards. Kafr Bir'im was an archaeological site that contained the remains of olive presses, a synagogue, tombs, and cisterns.